Finished the hinged steering latch today. I sorta took a break on the car, to work on my '49 pickup and get it dialed in for Speed Week and we know how that turned out! Sheesh! So anyways, got back at it building pieces and parts. Originally I was going to use funny car hatch latches but a little input when I took it out to El Mirage was the direction I went. I took some 5/8" bar stock, drilled a 5/16" hole down the center and cut 4 pieces 1" long. I chucked up 2 of them in the mill and put a 5/16" by 3/8" deep notch in them
I then made the latching rod out of 5/16" hardened bar stock. Took a 2" chunk and tig'd it at a 90 degree from the longer piece
Once I had them tacked in place, I put a spring, an AN washer and drilled the rod for a hitch pin to hold them in place
I then built a tab that went on the steering frame, welded a 3/8" long receiver tube on to the end of it
With it tacked in place and the latch locked in
The rod slid back out of the notch and slid up and the latch is released
I'm stoked, it works awesome and both sides are nice and smooth! Now to finish welding it!
